10 Things Marilyn Monroe Would Have Tweeted

The woman who was the personification of sex appeal and glamour for an entire generation, the woman who has inspired many a Hollywood starlet, the woman who would become the iconic Marilyn Monroe, was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926. Her tragically short life was, by all accounts, a tumultuous one; her death has been the source of controversial debate for decades. If the technology had existed during her lifetime, here are ten things that she might have tweeted:

@GraceMcKee can’t keep me anymore. I’m going to the #LosAngelesOrphansHomeSociety.” – From infancy to the age of nine, the young Norma Jeane was shuffled from one home to another as her mentally unstable mother was incapable of caring for her regularly. In 1935, the family friend that had been Norma’s guardian, Grace McKee, turned care of the child over to the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society due to an inability to financially support her.

“I’m leaving the #Orphanage! @GraceMcKee has come back for me!” – After almost two years in state care, young Norma Jeane found herself once again in the care of Grace McKee, now Grace Goddard. She would live with Grace and her new husband briefly before being moved into foster care; the conditions in the foster homes led Norma Jeane to plead with Grace to move her back into the Los Angeles Orphans Home, causing the Goddard’s to once again take her in.

“@JimDougherty and I are getting #Married!” – Once again unable to care for Norma Jeane, sometimes-foster mother Grace McKee Goddard played matchmaker in order to secure Norma’s future. Because she’d harbored a crush on neighbor Jim Dougherty and greatly preferred the idea of marriage over a return to the orphanage, she married him on June 19, 1942.

“I’ll be appearing on the #cover of @FamilyCircle!” – In what would become the first in a long line of national magazine covers, Norma Jeane posed for the April 26, 1946 issue of Family Circle.

“I have a #screentest at @Fox today. Wish me luck!” – In June of 1946, Norma Jeane divorced Jimmy Dougherty and had her first screen test with Fox studios. This flurry of activity would be the beginning of her rise to fame.

“My contract with @Fox is signed, and I’ll never be Norma Jeane again. #MarilynMonroe” – Upon signing with Twentieth Century Fox and taking on her iconic platinum tresses, Norma Jeane also made another major life decision: she took on what would become one of the most recognizable names of the twentieth century, Marilyn Monroe.

“Met a wonderful Hollywood #agent, @JohnnyHyde. This is the start of something big.” – The New Year’s Eve meeting with super-agent Johnny Hyde would prove to be a pivotal moment in Marilyn Monroe’s life. Hyde devoted himself to making her a star, a promise he delivered.

“I begin shooting #AticketToTomahawk today! #ChorusGirl” – The film A Ticket to Tomahawk, featuring an unbilled appearance by Marilyn Monroe as a chorus girl, would eventually become popular with film aficionados because of her uncredited presence.

“I was named female #WorldFilmFavorite at the @GoldenGlobeAwards tonight.”- In 1962, Marilyn Monroe cemented her place in film history by securing the Female World Film Favorite award, just months before her tragic death.

“Today I’ll be shooting for another LIFE magazine cover.” – On June 22, 1962, Marilyn Monroe appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine for the last time. She’d be laid to rest in Westwood Memorial Park on August 8 of that year.

A half-century after her death, Marilyn Monroe is still considered one of Hollywood’s most beloved actresses. The torment of her private life, fraught with melodrama, would serve to both fuel her ambition to succeed and leave her with profound psychological scars that she carried throughout her years as America’s sex symbol.